Subway working with school district on deliveries

Subway and Laguna Beach Unified School District representatives are working on details that will allow the sandwich shop to continue delivering its food to district campuses next year.

District staff and Subway officials have met two or three times in the last few months to iron out what kind of food will be offered and the way it’s delivered, according to Dean West, the district’s assistant superintendent of business services.

Subway has lunch menus specific to schools that take nutrition requirements into consideration, West said.

“Nothing has been finalized,” said Daniel Riscalla, owner of the Subway store at 1350 S. Coast Hwy. “There’s a number of ideas we are working through to make our product compliant with rules of the school lunch program.”

Riscalla said he hopes an agreement will be in place by the time school begins in early September.

The deliveries generated concern among district officials earlier this year. Staff worried the deliveries competed with the free-and-reduced price lunches the district offers students that need to adhere to federal nutrition guidelines.

Two sandwiches turned into 40 delivered each day, Thurston Middle School Principal Jenny Salberg said at the time.

In June, Riscalla said he wanted to work with the district and “not offend anyone.”

Subway has a mobile phone app called Subway California that allows customers to place their order and store employees deliver throughout Laguna Beach for free.

Drop-off spots vary depending on the school. At Thurston, drivers dropped-off sandwiches on a table set up on the sidewalk. At Top of the World, drivers set sandwiches inside the office.

“The service is great for parents and kids, but it takes work doing it right,” Riscalla said.